Secrets of the Past
by Continental Drifter
Summary: So, Tigress was that lonely, strong and uncontrollable little girl that Master Shifu trained and then adopted. As a foster father, he should be treating her a little...differently, to the other five. But he doesn't. Why? What is troubling Shifu? Review.
1. Tigress

Secrets of the Past

'Tigress! Concentrate!'

Tigress tried to obey her master but she was so worn out and tired that she collapsed onto the mattress in weakness. Instead of hurrying over to see what had happened to his foster daughter and student, Shifu sighed.

'I'm very disappointed' he simply said and turned away, heading towards the Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom like he always did to avoid anymore unnecessary disappointments.

Viper slithered towards the weak tiger on the mattress, breathing heavily. Feeling unaccepted, she buried her face into her paws and moaned, trying to avoid the tears of the feeling. Viper tried to comfort her, but nothing seemed to do. Master Shifu never seemed to be pleased. Tigress wished that Tai Lung never existed, so she could maintain that strong friendship between her and her master.

'Don't worry about it,' Monkey said gently 'he's always been like that since Tai Lung left'

Tigress growled in fury and punched her paw into the mattress. 'Exactly,' she growled 'that's why I'm so mad, in case you haven't noticed'

She buried her head into her paws again, trying to erase the memory of her devastating childhood. Crane and Mantis came along and tried cheering her up by inviting her to Mr Ping's for lunch since Po was working there to help his Dad that day.

'There's a new lunch special,' Crane raved on excitedly 'Po saved a table for us when we come!'

Tigress knew that there was no winning with Crane, so she reluctantly got up and followed the Furious Five to the noodle shop where Po was waiting. As she continued, her friends were chatting about unimportant subjects like which colour suited who best. Tigress wasn't listening, so she started to think. She always liked thinking in her spare time, thinking about who she was, thinking about her...childhood...

The terrible memories immediately flooded back to her.

_Tigress was sitting in her dark, isolated room. She was all alone. Voices were heard outside her room. She got up and peeked through a gap and saw two shadows- one of the caretaker and the other of an unknown figure she had never seen before..._

'_Nobody will come here to adopt a child because they're afraid of her' the caretaker trembled to the stranger 'She's a monster! A monster!' _

_Offended and guilty for the words that the caretaker had said of Tigress, she walked to the back corner of her room and sat there, facing the wall sadly._

_The door swung open revealing Master Shifu._

'_Tigress?' he asked._

_She ignored his presence. _

'_I am Shifu. I am...' he began._

'_Afraid?' she snapped at him._

_The door shut tightly. 'No' he replied._

'_Well, you should be. I'm Tigress the monster! The monster no one wants' _

'_You are not a monster. You're just a little girl' Shifu replied to the agitated cub. He revealed a domino block 'Let us play?'_

_Tigress reached out to grab it, but the piece snapped and..._

'Tigress!'

'Uh?' she asked stupidly, snapping herself back into reality.

'This way,' Crane directed, nodding his head in the other direction of where Tigress was proceeding towards.

'Oh...yeah...right...' Tigress murmured, the memories still stained on her mind.

They all arrived at the noodle shop safely, without Tigress almost running into things because she was so deep in thought. Po grinned widely when he saw the Furious Five enter the shop. The customers all gazed in wonder and amazement at the great Kung Fu masters.

'Sit down, guys!' exclaimed Po excitedly 'I'll make you the all new-'

'Vegetable dice slice noodle soup!' exclaimed Mr Ping delighted.

They all sat down at the table and waited for their lunch to be served. The whole time they were talking and chatting a lot, but Tigress didn't say a word. She was still deep in thought about her childhood and meeting Master Shifu for the first time, when she was just a little toddler at the Bau Gu orphanage.

_*The piece snapped as Tigress grabbed it and Shifu reached over and grabbed the flying piece*_

'_You must learn to control your strength' Shifu instructed Tigress._

_The training started and Tigress was trying her best. Shifu was demonstrating a gentle and slow movement of the arms. _

'_This game requires a discipline, precision, a still hand and a steady heart' Shifu was saying._

_Tigress tried following the hand movements but her strength made her punch a hole through the wall._

'_Focus,' Shifu instructed 'again'_

_The training moved onto the domino asset that Shifu had shown Tigress. He threw the pieces into the air and Tigress leapt to catch it. She did, but the pieces were broken in her paw. She yelled out in fury and frustration._

'_Again' Shifu instructed patiently._

_So Tigress was still training and the weeks turned into months. Then, Master Shifu threw the blocks in the air. Tigress again, leapt up into the air to catch it. She landed, opened her paw and saw the pieces...all in one piece! _

_Her training was finally completed and she had to perform what she had learnt. Tigress performed with the many domino blocks. She gracefully placed them in a figure, known as the Yin and Yang. Shifu nodded in approval. She flicked the start and it trailed down revealing a glittering set of dominoes. She had finally earned the trust and respect of the other children at the orphanage and the caretakers!_

_The month came for the adults to take home the chosen child from the orphanage. All the children left, except for Tigress._

'_Come, dear, there's always next time' the caretaker soothed gently and led Tigress back inside the orphanage._

_She sat down at the table sadly, wishing she had a parent and wondering why she didn't as well. She sighed and placed a domino on the wooden table she sat at. All the adults were afraid of her. A hand placed another domino beside Tigress'. All but one._

_Surprised, Tigress glanced up. 'Shifu!' she exclaimed, happily._

'_Come,' Shifu said 'Let us go home'_

_Tigress leapt up and followed her new father home._

'TIGRESS!'

'Uh?' asked Tigress stupidly.

'This is the second time!' Monkey groaned 'Hurry up, lunch is over'

Tigress felt faint as she stood up. The memories of her childhood were too much for her to induce all at once. She followed the rest of her friends and waved an accidental sloppy goodbye to Po, who was so delighted to have the five come and eat at the noodle shop.

'Tigress, are you alright?'

'Uh?'

'Tigress!' the five groaned to her in irritation.

'That's the third time now' Crane remarked.

Tigress was worrying the Furious Five so much that they confirmed to take her home and let her rest, rather than making her attend the fair like they planned to. As they finally pulled Tigress up the last couple of steps, Tigress was still deep in thought. When Tigress was in deep thought, nothing could make her snap out of it.

'I wonder what's gotten into her,' Mantis said as they closed the gates of the Jade Palace 'she seems so caught up in something else'

'I don't know, but what I do know is that she'll eventually snap out of it' Monkey said, confidently. They all agreed uncertainly with Monkey's somewhat firm statement and made their way towards the awesome fair that they were going to enjoy.

Meanwhile, Tigress was sitting up in bed, rather than lying down. She was sort of back in reality but she was still going to be thinking about the past. All she wanted to know was what really happened back then, when she was just a little child. Not much of interest, but it was still bugging Tigress to insanity.

Desperately trying to think after Shifu took her home, an important memory flashed back in her mind. A glitter...what? There was a glitter and that was all she could remember. Tigress lay in bed, trying to get to a good sleep just to rest off the insane thoughts. Slowly, after a long while of peacefulness, she started drifting slowly to sleep...

'_This is the training room. Here, we learn to master Kung Fu and train,' Master Shifu explained to young Tigress as they arrived at the Jade Palace 'you may begin as soon as you feel ready'_

_Tigress stared at the impossible obstacles in wonder and shock. She saw a punching dummy that interested her and she made way towards it excitedly. She stood up and kicked it hard. Shifu nodded, but something in Tigress' heart knew that there was something paining Shifu deeply. She could sense it in his eyes and facial expressions._

_As he shuffled away from the punching dummy, a glitter was seen just slightly around his neck. Tigress looked at it curiously, wanting to know what it was..._

Tigress jumped up in bed, shocked a little by her 'dream' which she now understood was a memory that occurred to her in her sleep. What was the glitter? Was it just something unimportant that Tigress didn't need to worry about? Or was that the whole reason of Shifu's somewhat harsh and unpleased attitude...?


	2. Distracting Memories

Tigress woke up quickly and greeted her master with the usual morning greeting.

'Good morning, Master Shifu' the Five said in unison as they stepped out their rooms, standing firm.

Of course, Shifu never greeted them back but instead announced the usual plans for the day.

'Training,' Shifu announced 'now'

They followed Master Shifu up the palace steps towards the training room. Master Shifu was silent the whole trip, which was generally because the Furious Five was irritating him by asking pointless questions (to Shifu, that is).

'Start...now!'

Tigress leapt and yelled out as she attacked the training obstacles. The strong wooden pieces were sent back flying through the air from Tigress' attack punch. She was still attacking after an hour, just like the rest of the team. She turned around to hit another hanging wooden ball but her eyes were suddenly fixed upon the punching dummy.

An instant memory flooded into her mind. It was a flashback of the last memory she had, when she was introduced to the training room and she saw...she saw...the glitter...WHACK!

Tigress was so hypnotized by the children's dummy that she forgot where she was. The sharp wooden ball smacked her directly in the face and she lost balance and fell off the entire training course. Disappointed, Master Shifu lectured Tigress for her 'stupidly distracted concentration' while the rest of the Furious Five _**normally **_sympathized for her. As Shifu left the room, announcing that training was over, Tigress yelled in raging anger.

'Why do I always have to be perfect?' she yelled angrily, mostly to herself and partly to the group 'WHY? WHY?'

'I don't know' was what Monkey had to say, stupidly.

'Come on Tigress,' Viper said sweetly in her kind voice 'let's get you fixed up...ooh...that's a nasty bruise there...'

She led Tigress carefully to her room, in order to 'fix her up'. By the end of Tigress' unsuccessful acupuncture session from Mantis, who was positive he was a master at it, Viper was convinced Tigress had serious brain damage because Tigress wasn't answering Viper's health-related questions properly. But it wasn't true, obviously, because Tigress was thinking about her past while Viper raved on about how brains work and unimportant information like that.

They parted from Tigress and she was relieved that she had some alone time to think.

'What was that glitter...?' Tigress mumbled to herself, settling down on the bed to lie down.

'AAARRGGHHH!' she screamed in distressed agony.

She sat upright immediately and glanced behind her to see a lone needle still in her back which Mantis forgot to put away. She groaned in pain and plucked out the pin, carelessly throwing it onto the ground.

'The glitter must've been important to him...' Tigress murmured to herself, going back to thinking deeply 'he wore it every single time I saw him...'

'Tigress!' called out Monkey loudly 'we've gotta go- the fireworks are on tonight! It's Moon Festival. If you don't come, Viper will kill you. This festival is important to her. Oh, and she's bringing her ribbons along, just in case!'

'Shut up' Tigress was thinking to herself as Monkey continued to rant on about the Moon Festival.

She left the room and went with Monkey to meet the rest of the Furious Five waiting at the palace steps. Viper was dressed up in ribbons, ready to defeat the gorilla that she had predicted would come.

'Hey, Master Shifu!' Monkey called.

Tigress winced, knowing this was the worst idea to happen. All Shifu was going to do was lecture her on and on about the earlier accident that she did. But to her surprise and relief, Shifu didn't accept Monkey's invitation to the Moon Festival.

Shifu walked towards the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom and simply sat down, watching at the black night sky, almost looking quite...sad.

Another flashback entered Tigress' mind.

'_Master Shifu!' Tigress called to her master 'Come on; let's go to the Moon Festival! I wanna see the fireworks!'_

_Master Shifu smiled at her desperation to see the fireworks and he kindly refused to Tigress' great disappointment. Tigress was also confused, because the Moon Festival occurred every ten years. Master Shifu was missing out on an occasion that he would never get the chance to see in ten more years._

'_Come, now, young Tigress,' Master Oogway said in a very kind voice 'let us go to the festival. We do not want to miss out!'_

_As they walked down the steps together, Tigress was whining about Master Shifu's refusal. _

'_Why can't he go?' Tigress whinged 'I want Master Shifu to come'_

_They proceeded down quietly and Tigress snuck a final glance at her master, who was sitting down by the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom._

Tigress gasped. Master Shifu was missing out on the occasion again! And he was also sitting in the same place as the last time he missed out! The Furious Five were walked down the steps, ready for the festival. Tigress wasn't interested in the festival anymore. She wanted to know everything. NOW!

'Uh...guys, I don't feel too well...I might stay in tonight...' Tigress said.

'Aw, no way Tigress! You HAVE to come! The fairy floss will fix you up' Crane replied.

'Sorry...I...have to stay...' Tigress said quickly and rushed to the top of the stairs. The Furious Five sighed in frustration, disappointment and a dumfounded attitude.

Tigress reached the top of the stairs quickly and spied on Master Shifu who was still sitting at the Sacred Peach Tree of Heavenly Wisdom. She sneaked around the back of the Jade Palace, observing Shifu's every movement and detail.

She wanted to know everything. It was the main thing that was irritating her so much.

'How am I gonna ask?' she mumbled to herself quietly '_Hey, Master Shifu, I was wondering if you could tell me..._no. Too dull and stupid'

Tigress sighed and decided to be open about it. She approached Master Shifu and began to speak about what she thought about everything...


	3. The Truth is Revealed

The Truth is Revealed

Shifu was staring at her, his eyes bugged out and his jaw dropped, like it was going to fall and smash on the floor in any second. Tigress was staring at him, trying to be confident after what she had confessed to her master and father.

'You remember so far back?' Shifu asked, very well surprised by Tigress' long ago memories.

She nodded confidently in reply.

'You must have a memory of an elephant!' Master Shifu gasped.

Tigress didn't say anything. She was so determined about the answer. She wanted it so badly, even if it wasn't important.

'You don't really need to know,' Shifu began, obviously attempting to be casual 'it isn't that important'

But Tigress very well knew that something Tigress had confessed was troubling him a lot and she wanted to know, because she knew that it wasn't 'not important'. Master Shifu stared at Tigress expectedly, waiting for her to leave. But no, Tigress didn't give up that easily.

'Tell me the answer,' Tigress insisted firmly 'now'

Shifu, a little stunned from Tigress' almost threatening attitude, was taken aback. But that didn't make him immediately confess.

'The glitter was just a compass. You know just a little decoration I liked. It was a pretty nice one too and...' Shifu lied, but was interrupted.

'I don't like being lied to' Tigress butted in.

'I'm not lying' Shifu said, trying to innocent, but failing. When Shifu attempted to have a different facial expression from what he was feeling, it never worked. And Tigress knew that because she lived with him for most of her life.

Tigress stood there and folded her arms and waited for the right answer. The fireworks suddenly came on and Shifu watched the beautiful sight sadly. He sighed.

'Tigress, come and sit down. I need to tell you something you never knew' Shifu sighed, an awful memory flooding into him.

Tigress obeyed and sat down on a rock, across from Shifu.

'Many years ago, before you came, Tai Lung was here, as you know. You know the whole story as I raised him like a son, acting like a father towards him. But I know you never knew that...that...t-t-that...' Shifu began, stammering continuously 'that he had a mother' he blurted out forcefully.

Tigress' jaw dropped open.

'Her name was Mist,' Shifu explained sadly 'and we both raised Tai Lung up'

'Mist never got to see Tai Lung as a grown leopard,' Shifu continued 'because of the most tragic event in history that I will never forget'

Tigress continued listening to Master Shifu.

'Exactly thirty years ago, Mist, Tai Lung and I sat here to watch the fireworks. This was Mist's very first time seeing the fireworks because she was from a different region where they didn't hold the Moon Festival.

We waited for a long time and Tai Lung complained of hunger. So I took him inside for a couple of minutes to make something for him.

As we were inside, we heard a loud crash from outside. Rushing out, Tai Lung and I both had different opinions. I thought it was a gunshot, whereas Tai Lung believed it was the fireworks.

We were both partly correct. It was Shen, in his early adult years. He had a fireball spitter that spat firework flames. It was nothing compared to the invention he later created.

So I looked around desperately for Mist but she was nowhere to be seen. Shen challenged to me to a battle in order for me to win Mist back. I later figured that Shen had taken Mist for hostage. He hated me and I hated him. He hated Kung Fu. So he believed that if he destroyed the master of Kung Fu, he would destroy it.

So we fought, but...I was no match for Shen's outrageous attacks with his weapon. Tai Lung was watching, frightened. I told him to stay back and do nothing. I knew he wanted to leap out and kill Shen, but I couldn't bear for him to get hurt.

In the end...I had lost and Shen was to keep my Mist. He snickered and I had to watch Shen take Mist away, caged in metal bars on a wooden wagon. Tai Lung was crying and telling me that he wanted his mother back.

That was the last time I ever saw Mist'

Tigress' eyes were watering. She had never heard a sadder story in her life. Even worse, it was true! Her eyes watered a little more when she found out that Mist never got to see the fireworks because Shifu had explained later that as she left, the fireworks appeared.

'In the fight with Tai Lung and me, the one Po saved me in, you may recall that Tai Lung was furious at me for apparently doing 'nothing' when he was denied the Dragon Warrior. He emphasized that word on me, accusing me for both being reluctant to speak up for Tai Lung when he was denied and not doing anything to save Mist afterwards. I wanted to...I did so deeply...but I could not' Shifu explained, his own eyes watering. He looked up at Tigress sadly.

'I miss her' he admitted.

'I-I-I have a mother too?' Tigress asked, stunned.

Shifu nodded weakly. The fireworks were still bursting strongly. Tigress was so stunned that she was going to get up and leave until she remembered something else.

'What about the glitter?'

Shifu nodded. 'Years after she left, I wore this locket every single day. It was a silver locket with a photo of her inside' Shifu explained sadly and sighed so deeply 'Tigress, I know I am being very harsh and unfair of you for all the time I've known you, but please understand that ever since Mist left me and Tai Lung hated me, I have been that way. Nothing is going to change me now'

Tigress and Master Shifu were silent.

'No,' Tigress said suddenly 'you will change. And I will make you change'

Shifu was stunned. 'How?'

'I'm going to find Shen and get him to give Mist back. I am not going to allow you to be this depressed forever!' Tigress announced firmly.

Shifu didn't say anything. He was still shocked at her.

With that, Tigress proceeded to the Jade Palace, ready for action...


End file.
